A Friend Of Putin's Turned Out To Be A Co-Owner Of Ozon

Ukraine is launching attacks on the marketplace's warehouses.

"Delta," a company owned by billionaire Gennady Timchenko, who is close to the Russian president, paid for the purchase of nearly 35% of Ozon's shares. This was revealed by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) after reviewing the marketplace’s financial statements and other financial documents. This stake had previously belonged to the investment fund Baring Vostok, but after it withdrew from the Russian market due to the war in Ukraine, 27.71% of the shares were sold to businessman Alexander Chachava’s firm O23 for 38.2 billion rubles, and O23 subsequently increased its stake to 34.95%.

The FBK traced the chain of ownership from O23 through the firm “Corporation 42” to Chachava’s company “Stratosfera” and identified the source of funds for this transaction. Specifically, in 2024, “Stratosfera” received a loan of 51.23 billion rubles. According to financial statements, this amount was provided by the company “Optima,” which, in turn, received the money as an interest-free loan from “Delta,” through which Timchenko has held a 17% stake in “Sibur” since 2017. The FBK considers Chachava himself to be the nominal owner of Ozon’s shares, since he began buying up major digital assets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and prior to that had not been seen engaging in large-scale transactions.

The authors of the investigation also pointed to links between Optima’s management and businesses owned by individuals in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The company’s CEO, Daria Brylyakova, previously worked at the “Igor Drive” racetrack—registered to the president’s nephew, Mikhail Shelomov—and at “ABR Management,” which is controlled by billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk, a friend of the head of state; and Chief Accountant Zhanna Tsapleva—at the firm “Relax” owned by Svetlana Krivonogikh, Putin’s mistress, with whom she has a daughter.

The FBK concluded that the deal may have been made in Putin’s interest and called on the EU to impose sanctions against individuals and companies associated with Ozon. Supporting this claim is the fact that on August 22, when Ukrainian drones struck Ozon’s warehouses for the first time, the president sharply escalated his rhetoric, accusing Kyiv of “opening Pandora’s box.”

After the annexation of Crimea, Putin named Timchenko among his friends who, in his view, had been unfairly affected by Western sanctions. The businessman was the founder of Gunvor, a company that, until 2014, exported about one-third of all Russian oil. The U.S. Treasury Department claimed that the billionaire’s activities in the energy sector were directly linked to Putin, who had investments in Gunvor and access to the company’s funds.

The businessman was also a co-founder of Bank Rossiya, known as “Putin’s friends’ bank.” At the same time, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) established that Timchenko’s entities repeatedly financed assets and covered expenses related to the president and his inner circle. According to investigators, among other things, the billionaire provided funds for the construction of a “palace” in Gelendzhik, the businesses of Putin’s daughters, and a foundation established by the mother of his two sons Alina Kabaeva.

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